Hi,
We live in the UK and are planning a railfan trip to the US at some point over the next year or so. For family reasons we can only do about 10 days at the following times of the year:
Mid-February
Easter (March/April)
End of May
August
End of October
So far we've decided to try and get from New York to Grand Junction by whatever transport we can (excluding plane) and take in Altoona, Fostoria, Chicago (Homewood and so on), Rochelle, US Highway 30 to North Platte and over the rockies by train to Grand Junction. It's abitious, but we reckon we could do it in 10 days.
Does anyone have any suggestions for the best time of year to come over, or is it pretty much any time is a good time? Also should we avoid certain days of the week, US holidays etc?
Finally any other suggestions for railfanning locations would be grately appreciated.
Mike
Mike,
My taste would be not February, too cold and you could get tied up in a snowstorm anywhere on this route.
Not August, too hot AND kids are out of school so hotels/motels most likely to be full.
Any of the others OK, but I myself am partial to October.
Mac McCulloch
Your plan is like an American trying to see Britain from John O'Groats to Lands End in one trip, too much. You will have more fun and see more trains if you choose one specific region of the United States. California would work better in February than the Midwest. The other times work just about anywhere. The time it takes to drive from New York to Grand Junction is two and a half days each way of hard driving on the interstate. The only trains you will see will be those you see from your rental car. I would suggest my idea of a 10 day railfan trip to America. Fly into Chicago,see Rochelle Illinois and Galesburg Illinois spending a day at each. If you want an Amtrak ride take Amtrak to either St Louis or Minneapolis St Paul; these can be done in a day and return the next day. There is so much to see in and around Chicago for railfans.
Is your spouse a railfan? You will have to find non-railfan diversions for her while you watch trains. America has plenty of trains and you will need to narrow your options on what you want to see for an enjoyable 10 day trip. Do you want to ride commuter trains, interested in light rail, want to watch lots of freights; its all here in America.
Can't go wrong with California in Spring. There's Techachapi of course, not to mention all kinds of action in and around the major cities. The people are super friendly too.
I think I would pick two regions and concentrate on those. Some of the choices might be
1. Pennsylvania/Maryland/New Jersey
2. Chicago/St. Louis
3. Chicago/Minneapolis
4. Colorado
5. California
I would fly into one of those regions, rent a car and spend about four days touring railfan locations, rail museums, etc. in that region. Then fly or take Amtrak to the second focus area and do the same. Then fly home. With careful planning, you might even fit a third region into the itinerary. The problem with your original plan is that you'll have to do an awful lot of tedious driving on unfamiliar roads, because driving is the only way to get to some of those places conveniently. When I say that I'm referring specifically to Altoona, Fostoria, North Platte.
As for the time of year, I agree that the climate in February can be a pretty trying time in most of the States, with the possible exception of California, Arizona, and the deep South.
Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy the experience.
Tom
ACY gave some good locations.
If you come over, do it either during fall or late spring. Kids are in school, and its not too hot/cold.
Mike, you may want to consider what American city you fly into. New York,Boston,Philadelphia and Washington DC are all very difficult cities to drive in. I would personally not fly into these airports or rent a car at these airports. If you want to go to Altoona or Fostoria Ohio consider flying into Pittsburgh instead. Pittsburgh is not an easy place to drive but it is better than these four. There are a lot of trains to be seen close to the Pittsburgh airport. Denver is a good choice if you want to see Colorado and drive US 30 across Nebraska.
I would contact the American Automobile Association(AAA) once you decide on an itinerary. They do have offices in London. You can get good maps with routings and a tour book on places to stay. The membership is worth the price considering what guidebooks cost these days. You can check them out on line. Don't drive in the USA without a good map.
Most hotel and motel chains offer at least a continnental breakfast these days. You might want to check out local cafes in small towns where you can get a good breakfast and I have found Subway offers a nice alternative to burgers while train watching.
Out of the choices you gave, I would vote for end of May. The winter months can be brutally cold, even in the southern part of our country.For example, the temperature at my house in middle Tennessee was 5 degrees ferenhiet this morning. School districts are closed around here because of that.
The upper midwest can be tick and mosquito infested from late May through June, although I do not want to make it sound like a fever swamp, and Chicago is typically "cooler near the Lake" [Lake Michigan] than say Rochelle or the museum in Union IL even though they look close on a map, so almost regardless of season you'd want to be prepared for some temperature swings. I go to Galesburg IL Railroad Days each June (26th to 28th this year) and it is astounding how much hotter it is in Galesburg than where I live near Milwaukee WI on Lake Michigan. That summer heat also increases the chance that rain storms can be severe. But the longer days in late June mean I can keep photographing as late as 9 pm. And some of my best Galesburg photos have been that "sun after the rain with dark clouds in the background" look that can be very dramatic. Lots of tradeoffs.
For photography there is no question that fall colors in early October lend a quality all their own even though days are shorter. The CP and BNSF along the Mississippi River offer many scenic highlights for the railfan and photographer all year long, but fall color makes it more special. Hitting Chicago, Rochelle, perhaps Union, and then the Mississippi River in October if you luck onto pleasant sunny fall days sounds wonderful to me just now.
Enjoy your trip!. Perhaps we'll see you trackside.
Dave Nelson
Living in Colorado (Denver area) the end of May and the end of October would be good times to visit.
Many folks don't realize the expanse that is the US (even US citizens). If you're planning on driving for the most part, get on MapQuest or a similar program and plug in some trips.
I just put in a sample road trip from Windsor Locks, CT (Bradley Airport) to Rochelle, with stops in Scranton, Altoona, Fostoria, Deshler, South Bend, Downers Grove, and ending at Rochelle, just for purposes of illustration. Driven straight through, that's an 1,100 mile trip, with an estimated 18 hours of driving, exclusive of stops. Pretty ambitious - once you throw in some all-day stops, you're pushing your time constraints.
That said, if you're travelling to the northern tier of the country, summer's not bad, but fall would probably be better, especially if you dodge any of the usual holidays. The only danger on the east coast is hurricane season, which can throw a real monkey wrench into anyone's plans. Other weather systems are much shorter in duration, so they're easier to work around.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Thanks everyone for the great advice.
I'm very much leaning towards the End of May, weather wise it seems the best time to have a trip like this (and the weather across the atlantic isn't too bad either so hopefully not too many bumps!). Given the time constraints on the trip too, I think flying into Chicago is probably the best idea, it will give us the best oppertunities to see as many different railroads as we can in the time.
Something I always forget is the amount of time used up in getting to and from the US, not just the flying time, but getting to airports, waiting and so on, you can easily lose a day or more at each end of the holiday.
The flying time from Heathrow to O'Hare is 9 hrs. It is an hour less on the return flight. Their is good bus service from Reading to Heathrow. You can buy a direct ticket to Heathrow from your local train station. The bus takes about a half an hour from Reading. Allow enough time(at least two hours) to go through security. Most flights arrive in the USA around mid to late afternoon. Allow at least an hour to retreive your luggage and go through customs. There are good places to stay around O'Hare that are cheaper than downtown Chicago. Try to stay near the BNSF mainline between Chicago and Aurora, great train watching. Depending on how tired you are, you could drive out to Rochelle where there are a couple of motels.
Easter (March/April) might not be too bad, esp. if in April.
Forget driving - take Amtrak instead. Why avoid the trains, when you can be in midst of them ? (Is a UK license even valid in the US ? I don't know, but you should check into it - it didn't used to be some years ago.) Plus, you'd have to get accustomed to driving on the right, from the left side, in some heavy traffic at some of those locations.
Fly into Philadelphia (our daugher does this often, even though the layover is too short to visit with her). Take the SEPTA airport shuttle to Amtrak's 30th St. Station - from there, you can get to almost anyplace by rail.
From there, take either a NE Regional or Acela to NYC, and return.
Then, the Pennsylvanian to Altoona (consider also taking the Keystone Service to Lancaster, visit the Strasburg RR and the Pennsylvania RR Museum there, and then continue to Harrisburg for the Pennsylvanian). Spend the day's layover there at Horseshoe Curve (take a taxi each way - it's about 7 - 8 miles) and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. Continue on overnight to Chicago.
After Chicago & etc., take the California Zephyr to Grand Junction.
When done there, return by the same train to Denver, and fly home from there. (When will the light rail extension to the Denver Airport be up and running ?).
- Paul North.
P.S. - It's the Capitol Limited from Pittsburgh to Chicago.
Most of the arrival/ departure times for these trains at the points you're interested in are at decent hours (except for the almost-midnight connection from the Pennsylvanian to the Capitol Limited).
Route US 30 is not on or along the CZ's route (excpet for a couple crossings), but it's within 50 to 70 miles to the north from Omaha (11 PM westbound; 5 AM eastbound) to Fort Morgan/ Sterling, Colorado (5 AM WB; 8:25 PM EB), so that portion might lend itself to driving it as a "1-way rental" or a "local" out-and-back trip to a few points along US 30 without a lot of traffic to contend with, especially near Omaha; you might also consider driving just a little further on into Denver.
denveroutlaw, thanks for that info !
- PDN.
2016.
Your UK driver license will be valid in the United States; don't worry. A UK buddy of mine thinks that you should make rental car arrangements in the UK before you leave. You pick the car up at O'Hare and go.
The number one reason to rent a car instead of Amtrak is this: You control what you do. Rochelle Illinois has no passenger service and Galesburg has limited service. You would have to make your plans around a limited Amtrak schedule. Also US 30 runs across Iowa as well as Nebraska. Interstate 80 is full of commercial vehicles and should be avoided, but US 30 runs close to the Union Pacific and US 34 is close to the BNSF. They are both very busy lines
aricat Your UK driver license will be valid in the United States; don't worry. A UK buddy of mine thinks that you should make rental car arrangements in the UK before you leave. You pick the car up at O'Hare and go.
Remember, on this side of the Pond we drive on the right side of the highway.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
aricat [snipped - PDN] . . . The number one reason to rent a car instead of Amtrak is this: You control what you do. Rochelle Illinois has no passenger service and Galesburg has limited service. You would have to make your plans around a limited Amtrak schedule. Also US 30 runs across Iowa as well as Nebraska. Interstate 80 is full of commercial vehicles and should be avoided, but US 30 runs close to the Union Pacific and US 34 is close to the BNSF. They are both very busy lines
Otherwise, driving involves a lot of time and expense, much of it not near major rail lines without detours or backroads, esp. in the eastern US. What trains will you see at night (unless/ even if you're "team-driving"), meal and gas stops, etc. ?
Rochelle is only about 20-30 miles west of the METRA commuter lines to Aurora (BNSF), which itself is on the triple-track "raceway' anyway; Elburn (UP-West), and Elgin (Milwaukee-West). See: http://metrarail.com/metra/wap/en/home/schedules.html and
http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/_jcr_content/download/file.res/metrasystemmap.pdf
Galesburg is on the routes of both the Southwest Chief and the California Zephyr, which I recommended to get to Grand Junction anyway. It also has the Illinois Service, which is 2 more trains daily, at better times:
http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/302/209/Illinois-Missouri-Schedule-011215.pdf
More on schedule times at key points later.
10 days, perhaps, if two people did the driving frequently, while two people took photographs continuously. You would not have time to stop at a hotel or motel if you only had 10 days to take that route.
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
If your looking to do rail museums or excursions the July and august is the best bet...these kinda of operations shut down late October Thur the april
Paul_D_North_Jr (Is a UK license even valid in the US ? I don't know, but you should check into it - it didn't used to be some years ago.)
That 'some' would have to be a fairly large number of years; noncommercial reciprocity with the United Kingdom was established in the provisions of the 1949 Geneva convention on road traffic...
The one thing to be prepared for is to make sure you have an insurance card that is recognized here. There are some states in the US that require automobile insurance, sometimes with certain provisions, as a condition to driving regardless of license.
If you decide on Chicago and Colorado as your primary locations, I would suggest a direct flight to Chicago, then spend about 3-4 days there. Leave Chicago on Amtrak's California Zephyr. This will leave Chicago in the late afternoon and run overnight to Denver. Stay on the train for a daylight run across the backbone of the Rocky Mountains in daylight. Detrain in Salt Lake City and get a hotel room for the night. Next day, rent a car and spend the next 3-4 days driving to Denver, hitting Colorado locations of your choice on the way. Turn in the rental car in Denver and fly home from there.
I'd pick October to visit. Amtrak doesn't work in the summer (tracks all over the USA are torn up with massive delays and subsequent mssed connections) or in the winter (snow, ice, cold, etc). Consequently, coming in the summer or winter will not be anything like you planned it to be.
October also means far fewer tourists and crowds in general and lots more to do in our big cities.
If you spend a day in Denver, I recommend the Denver RTD Littleton-Mineral Station light rail line. It parallels the BNSF/UP triple track Joint Line, and it passes the UP (ex-D&RGW) Burnham Shops. It's about a half hour trip one way. Also, the Colorado Railroad Museum near Golden should not be missed.
Thanks for all the info, a lot to think about.
One thing that has sprung to mind is Memorial Weekend. Even though May would be perfect for our holiday planning, I've heard that this might not be the best weekend of the year to railfan as a lot of railroads have reduced traffic or don't run at all. Is that right ?
Memorial Day weekend does not much affect the freight carriers and they run about like any other weekend. May affect commuter operators.
Memorial Day is a great day to visit the Illinois Railway Museum in Union IL
Ah, you say U.S. Highway 30 west to North Platte, Nebraska …
May I suggest several hours parked in downtown Kearney, Nebraska! There is a public parking lot trackside (free too, at least the last time I was there), and between 100-150 trains a day on Union Pacific’s Central Corridor triple-track main. Coal trains galore. There are overpasses also!
North Platte, Nebraska and Baily Yard is cool too!
Well worth the time at both!
Best time? NOT winter! Summers is fine, but by all means avoid the tornadoes at all cost! I’m not a Nebraskan, so can’t advise you about tornado season, but one will wreck your trip in nothing flat!
Have fun dreaming!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
Might add that if you can find out whether a railroad is going to be doing some significant trackwork in a time frame, you might avoid some disappointment. For instance, today is a bad day (as was every day this week) for train watching at Tehachapi loop, as UP is doing some serious track maintenance west of Tehachapi (and for that matter, in Tehachapi as well) which means that all traffic is in hours of darkness. (There is plenty of traffic, too. Interesting that the first several trains through in either direction are hot intermodals. There is enough traffic to keep the night dispatchers on their toes, for sure.)
On the other hand, if you want to watch tie replacement, rail replacement, tamping and such, it's not a bad show during the day. Lots of UP trucks in town at night and lots of track equipment on the siding to the east of downtown.
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